Blue Fleabane - Erigeron acer

Alternative names
Erigeron acris
Description

Short to medium (8 to 20 inches) densely grey hairy plant. Flowerheads 10 to 15 mm with purple rays, borne in panicles, often flat topped; rays only a little longer than the disc florets. Flower bracts often purplish. Basal rosette leaves and lowest stem leaves stalked, uppermost stalkless, narrowly lanceolate with entire margins untoothed or shallowly toothed.

Similar Species

The hybrid with Conyza canadensis (syn. = Erigeron) has been recorded in VC55, in Leicester

Identification difficulty
ID guidance

Dull purplish mauve flowers, with ligules (ray florets) between 1mm and 4mm long; hairy lanceolate leaves

Recording advice

A photograph of the whole plant.  

Habitat

Dry grassland, walls, well drained calcareous soils.

When to see it

In flower during July and August.

Life History

Annual or biennial.

UK Status

Widespread and fairly frequent in much of England and Wales, scarce elsewhere in Britain.

VC55 Status

Occasional in Leicestershire and Rutland. In the 1979 Flora survey of Leicestershire it was found in 30 of the 617 tetrads.

Leicestershire & Rutland Map

MAP KEY:

Yellow squares = NBN records (all known data)
Coloured circles = NatureSpot records: 2020+ | 2015-2019 | pre-2015

UK Map

Species profile

Common names
Blue Fleabane
Species group:
Wildflowers
Kingdom:
Plantae
Order:
Asterales
Family:
Asteraceae
Records on NatureSpot:
50
First record:
03/09/2009 (Sue Timms)
Last record:
28/08/2023 (Nicholls, David)

Total records by month

% of records within its species group

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